Roaming Wolves and Equiping Items

[Rictor476]

Greetings Everyone, first post here.

So I recently purchased The Long Dark when it went on sale last weekend and this is, by far, the best Alpha game I've ever had the pleasure of playing.

Of course, the first few times of spawning was meant with obvious death in one way or another, but after trial and error I have managed a nice place in the map Coastal Highway. My food and water stores are full by looting from the surrounding town and buildings and I built a nice reserve of supplies and tools. I might have made the mistake of making my home in the Coastal Townsite, but I repelled the wolves most days by using flares and sprinting from building to building.

But, as I'm sure you've guessed, I ran out of flares to scare away wolves. At first I thought I didn't have to worry when I shot one with my only round and wounded the other when it attacked. After chasing the final wolf out of Coastal Townsite until it bled to death I declared it a victory for survival. I was under the impression that it would take some time for the other wolves of the mountains to reclaim the open territory. So imagine my surprise when I see two other wolves walk into town not 24 hours after my 'victory.'

Did I inadvertently draw another neighboring wolf pack into town by killing the two wolves or are they searching for their lost brethren? More importantly, how do I repel two wolves without any flares and zero rounds of ammunition? I saw mention about the Steam Forums and posts here about 'equipping' the knife, prybar, and hatchet. While I have all of these tools, I do not see how you can equip (or 'hold' them as you would the rifle, flare, or storm lantern) so I may go on the offensive hopefully and protect my newly found homestead. Is it something that you just keep in your inventory and wait for the wolf to pounce? That always feels like a gamble if you ask me. Also, how many wolves general roam an area? How many do you have to kill to make an area safe?

tl;dr

Can you explain how to equip the knife or hatchet to attack incoming wolves? How many roaming wolves per area and how many do you have to kill to make that area safe?

To any developers that might happen by and read this, great job on the game! I'll be looking forward to what new content and story has to offer. I'm particularly interested in the effects of The Majestic Aurorae as well. While I haven't encountered it yet in the game (I'm not sure if it's been implemented), I'll be waiting for it to arise.

[Evolution13]

When you're attacked by a wolf you'll automatically use the best thing in your inventory to fend it off. From best to worst: Knife, hatchet, or prybar. (or fists and prayer) I'm still finding wolves frustrating to deal with. I have yet to find a knife before being killed by a wolf, and even with a hatchet I survive the attack maybe a quarter of the time or less.

[STFU]

Hatchets and knives are equipped automatically when you are fighting a wolf ( aka wolf struggle ) at hand to hand situation.

You can repel the two other wolf by this going hand to hand combat wounding them or killing them if you survive. You need to mash you left button to fill your power bar then click right to release your power !

[Archaeonic]

Damned if it doesn't seem to work for a number of us. Note the "Monster Wolves" thread...